Author: janlcoates

Mt. Ventoux & Pont d’Avignon – upon which I did NOT dance (too expensive)

One of those pesky, yet cool, spiral staircases to our Avignon apartment

One of my favs – CRENSHAW (Katherine Applegate) in the Avignon Library – curious title translation…

Beauty and history everywhere

Carousel-watching; not a bad way to spend time

Got to see Deborah Ellis’s Parvana on the big screen – in French! Very good.

Super disturbing photo exhibit in an Avignon art gallery. The photographer spent a year chatting with and taking photos of children of Texan parents who belong to the NRA – the quotes as to why they liked guns were chilling…

Canadian coats (1950s) for sale at a flea market

Young Eastern European woman using her uke to raise money to get to her cave in Spain… everybody has a story

Palais des Papes, Avignon

Jill contemplating how I was going to eat all that fondant chocolat – I did:)

I can always find a Charlie look-alike in my travels…

or two, this one in the dog park out front of the Louvre.

Les Bories in the Luberon mountains – like field stone igloos. Don’t think I’d like to live in one for very long…

Your next bottle of French wine…

Love it!

Mistral, resident greeter at the excellent Le Cercle Restaurant in Curcuron, on his way to work

L’hermitage outside Curcuron, definitely worth the climb.

Bonnieux – you can see forever

Terrace sitting – lovely Curcuron.

Biking along medieval streets, along country lanes through fields of grape vines and olive trees; so grateful to spend two whole weeks living in Provence with my good friend, Jill.

Thanks for reading – other than a near-death experience involving me having to slam our rental car into reverse on a twisty mountain road as we came upon an 18-wheeler fully in our lane (to navigate the hairpin turn), we had a great trip!

I had three book launches last month and a few bookstore signings; they were lots of fun, and I so appreciate people coming out to show their support when I have a new book (or two this year). As you’ll see in the short video clip, Tom Chapin really made my Lunenburg Launch (hosted by the Lunenburg Library now located in the old Academy) special, and I got to sing along on the line from his tune “Family Tree” that I included in TALKING TO THE MOON – “You’re probably my cousin, and the whole world is our kin.” We started September with Don’s 60th birthday party/house concert. And that about sums up my summer!

Two new books and three launches in August – too busy! (Tom Chapin (who provided the soundtrack to my kids’ growing-up years and is the late Harry’s brother) is going to sing his song, “Family Tree” (which appears in Talking to the Moon) at one of them!)

Hope you’re all surviving the humidity and enjoying summer!

hometown music teacher surrounded by some of her “OLD” students – thank you, Mrs. Dill!

BFFs since 1965 (Brenda)

Friends from Willow Street Elementary School – looking good!

Shannon’s friend, Finn, looking surprised to find himself in my new book!

I don’t often blog about what I’m reading, but I was really affected by THE STRANGER IN THE WOODS, the true story of Christopher Knight, the Maine man who walked into the woods in 1986, remaining there in isolation until 2013, when he was caught breaking into a cottage to steal food (as he had done 1000 times previously). A bright student, Knight had a fairly stable upbringing in rural Maine before moving to the Boston area to train as an electrician. His self-analysis in the book is fascinating; “I did examine myself. Solitude did increase my perception. But here’s the tricky thing—when I applied my increased perception to myself, I lost my identity. With no audience, no one to perform for, I was just there… There was no need to define myself; I became irrelevant. The moon was the minute hand, the seasons the hour hand. I didn’t even have a name. I never felt lonely. To put it romantically: I was completely free.”

Knight was unable to articulate why, at the age of 20, he made the decision to drive his Subaru deep into the woods until it ran out of gas, continuing on foot, finally making his new home on a piece of land surrounded by boulders, with an almost invisible entrance between them. His only regret, it seems, was that he had to resort to stealing (over 1000 times) from neighboring cottages and a camp in order to survive. Amazingly, through those long, cold Maine winters, he never once started a wood fire, fearful the smoke would give him away.

I suppose we all feel the need to escape from the world sometimes, but to do so in such a drastic manner? In the book, Knight describes his family as being obsessed with privacy. Author Michael Finkel writes: “One’s desire to be alone, biologists have found, is partially genetic and to some degree measurable. If you have low levels of the pituitary peptide oxytocin – sometimes called the master chemical of sociability – and high quantities of the hormone vasopressin, which may suppress your need for affection, you tend to require fewer interpersonal relationships.” And: “Each of us inherits from our parents a certain level of need for social inclusion…” (John Cacioppo, LONELINESS)

Interesting. I’d never heard that before, and I’ve spent some time reflecting on my own parents and myself as social beings.

Did Michael Finkel share his royalties with Knight? I hope so since Penguin Random House describes it as a National Bestseller, and at best, Knight seemed to be a reluctant participant. I tried to get an update on Christopher Knight, hoping to find he’d managed to retreat into the solitude and stillness of the woods once again, but the internet has little current information. I’m sure that’s just as he would want it.

Here in sunny Georgia, I’ve been putting the final polish on my middle grade novel, Talking to the Moon, due out in May from Red Deer Press, and thinking about how much work is involved in creating a book, for so many people. The list of contributors in movie credits is extremely long – everybody gets a mention; not sure why that doesn’t happen with books.

I began doing the research for this one back in 2013 – so almost five years from initial idea to publication. Because structure is not my friend, I figure I’ve written the entire novel 6 or 8 times by now, with constructive and key bits of advice from more than a few people along the way. I’ve read the manuscript approximately 1,000 times, and probably there will still be at least one typo, despite the sharp eyes of my editor, Peter Carver, and the keen attention to detail of the copy editor, Penny Hosey.

We don’t have a final cover, yet. Hopefully soon …

So ultimately, I ask myself – why do I do it? For me, I had to tell this story, in part, because it includes a bit of my family history, but mainly because once a character becomes real to me, I need to stick with them, and help them tell their story, right to the end. They need to be heard!

I don’t think any writer has ever said to themselves, ‘This book is perfect,’ but I’m satisfied that I’ve done my best with Katie’s story; I’ll miss her …

I got to visit Cuba for the fourth time last week; it is a beautiful country, its people so warm, friendly and hardworking, and it’s so very different from our life here in North America. I took some mental notes on the bus ride back to the airport:

I’ve been doodling the winter away (with water color pencils), and having so much fun! I started selling some cards at my local book shop, The Box of Delights, and amazingly, some people are actually buying them! The whole thing reminds me of the FIFTEEN years I spent making toddlers’ clothing and selling my cuddle duds at craft fairs – too many hats, bibs, jumpers and pajamas! But, hey – I got to spend a lot of quality time with my kids when it mattered most. It’s fun having a new creative outlet, trying to combine my love for picture books with words. Sorry the reproduction quality isn’t the best, but technology remains a challenge … Stay warm out there!